Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The browser wars of yesteryear between Microsoft and Netscape seem so quaint. (And look what happened to Netsacpe, too.) Today it is all about Adobe Flash versus the multi-touch swipe technology that is part of Apple's product lines.

Why is this a war? Apple's iPod, iTouch, and now iPad all share a lack of support for Adobe's Flash technology, the animation glue that binds Web pages to in-line video playback. When you bring up your Safari browser in these devices, you see a big blank nothing on the pages that have Flash content to play. And what that means to me is that Apple has made it clear: rewrite your sites to support our own technologies (including new apps that are certain to populate the iTunes Store soon), or be forever absent from this brave new world of cool devices that Steve is creating.

I come to the support of Flash most reluctantly, mind you. Flash is a necessarily evil, and for the most part we just don't even think of it when we merrily surf around the Internet, finding new video content to amuse and inform us. (Unless our plug-ins are outdated or messed up, that is.)

Flash will bring about the Internet TV revolution a lot sooner than the misinformed mainstream TV executives will like to admit, too: the more video that gets encoded in Flash, the fewer hours that 20-, 30-, and 40-somethings will spend in front of their living room TVs, if they even have living room TVs anymore. See what has happened to Leno et al. Their best bits are immediately uploaded to YouTube and watched the next morning. That is the power of Flash.

But Apple has its own idea about how to watch video, and it has nothing to do with standards that anyone else creates. It is about making Web content creators develop new iTunes Apps that can deliver their content customized for their devices. Anyone using an ordinary Web browser can be ignored. Granted, they have sold a lot of iPhones, so it isn't a market that has been marginalized like their share of the PC market - but still. Why do so many Web site owners want this? Because of the latest Steve reality distortion field. See the comment about Doonesbury above.

It is ironic, because in the early days, Apple was a big boost to Adobe's Postscript technology, the glue that made printing pretty pages from your PCs possible. But let's not rest on these accidents of history.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

The main function of a Web browser is to allow you to quickly and efficiently search the Internet for the content and information you are looking for. Unless you know the exact address of the Web site you want to visit, chances are that you will have to search to find it. Apple's Safari Web browser offers users a simple and reliable interface in which to browse the Internet, allowing them to spend less time searching the Internet, and more time enjoying it.

Instructions

Search the Internet with Safari

Open up your Safari Web browser.

Click on the Google search box in the top right-hand corner of your browser.

Type in a word or phrase that best describes what you are looking for.

Press the 'Return' button.

Search through the results for links to Web pages that seem appropriate to your search.

Click on a link in order to view the page.

Go to the next results page (if you do not find a link that seems appropriate) by clicking on the 'Next' button at the bottom of the page.

Modify your search terms and repeat the search process until you find the type of information you are looking for.

Click on the magnifying glass icon in the Google search box in order to view a list of your previous searches. Click on any searches you wish to revisit.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

A Web browser's cache, or temporary Internet files, are stored content from pages you visit. The next time you visit that page, your browser can reference the old cached files and download only content that has changed. Removing your cache in Internet Explorer 8 is a simple process requiring changes to your Internet Safety Options. Note that deleting cached files may cause Internet Explorer 8 to run slower, as the program needs to re-download all content when viewing Web pages.

Instructions

Click the "Start" button in the bottom-left corner of your computer's main screen and select "Control Panel."

Monday, August 8, 2011

Let's face it, the Internet can be a great place for learning and interacting with friends, but it is also a wild place with lots of content that can be unsuitable for kids. Fortunately, Internet Explorer has parental controls that you can adjust according to what you do and do not want your children to be exposed to online. These parental controls can be adjusted according to a child's age and your own values.

Instructions

Control What Your Children See Online

Go to Internet Explorer on your computer. Click on 'Tools' from the toolbar in the upper right-hand corner of the Web browser.

Select the 'Content' tab.

Find the 'Content Advisor' heading and click on the button labeled 'Enable.'
Choose a category from the list. This list will present you with a variety of content categories that you may not want your children to see, such as sites depicting drug or alcohol use, violent images, nudity or bad language.

Click on the category you want to control. Then use your mouse to move the slider below the list to set the degree of restriction you want on that type of site. the degree of restriction can range from no restriction at all to the complete blocking of those sorts of sites.

Click 'OK.'

Set a password. You will be prompted to do so at this point. Setting a password will ensure that no one but you is able to adjust the parental control settings.